4/9/08
For those still conscious after the Heels got drubbed in the Final Four, we got ourselves some winners in the annual pool - and it was a tie! Our girl Emma, who wrote here on March 18 that she would "go ahead and start working on my guest blogging piece" before she even entered her picks, dunked on the naysayers who thought she was being cocky. Our other winner, Scott Burkett, played with this head and not his heart, and wound up at top.
Today will be Emma's blog. Enjoy!
***
Sure, everyone knows the basic rules for picking games in an NCAA tournament bracket. A number 16 seed has never defeated a number one seed. Nearly always, one number 12 seed beats a number five seed in the first round. In the years since the field has been 64 teams or more, a number 15 seed has beaten a number 2 seed only a handful of times.
I have come up with some other rules to go by in doing my picks every year. And who am I to make up rules for March Madness Bracketology? Well, nobody, really. I have never played sports. But I have watched college basketball ever since my grade school teachers let us watch the ACC tourney on ACC tournament Friday. I clearly remember watching the 1982 NCAA championship game. To this day, I swear I was the first person on that rainy night on Franklin Street in 1993 to come up with the thought that TimeOut should put a picture of Chris Weber making that beautiful T with his hands in the national championship game.
I don't remember when I did my first bracket, but I am guessing it was about 15 years ago. My husband has conducted an office pool since he has worked at his office and has kept a Hall of Fame. In the last 11 years, I have placed first or second in the pool five times. I think I finished in the top five in the xtcian pool last year, but don't quote me on that. In perfect candor, I did make the Hall of Shame in 2004, but I will blame that on the fact that I had a one-year-old and a three-year-old at the time and who really had time to care about basketball that year?
Back to the brackets. I have fun with it and these are my rules. As soon as put my rules out there, I am sure that I will become the world's worst bracketeer, but that's a chance I'm willing to take.
1. First step: You must get a newspaper the Monday following Selection Sunday. In that paper, you'll find blurbs on all 65 teams in the field. This will provide valuable information for your selections, such as Team Coach, Team Mascot, town where the school is located, season record and how the team has performed in the NCAA before.
2. If in doubt, go with a family member. For example, my maiden name is Stallings. Therefore, when I see that Kevin Stallings is the coach of Vanderbilt, Uncle Kevin will get into the second round of the tourney. (This did not do me much good this year, but has worked in the past.)
3. If in doubt, go with your sisterhood. Back in 1995, when the Miami of Ohio Redhawks were still the Redmen, they made it to the big dance. I think they had a player who wore this great and funny looking pony tail on the top of his head who was a lot of fun to watch. So, I picked Miami of Ohio to make it to the second round. They made it. My husband looked at me and said, "Why did you pick that team?" "Because that is where Delta Zeta was founded, of course."
4. If the field fits it, pick a final four theme. It must have been 1997 when I decided that it would be fun to have a feline filled final four. My picks were probably Arizona, Kentucky and Clemson. Carolina would have been my exception to the theme.
5. As any gal would tell you (even a fashion idiot like myself), if you can't find any other distinguishing factor, go with the better team color or basketball uniform. I promise you, you won't find a better basketball uniform than those designed by Alexander Julian. In fact, maybe we should bring those unis back for good luck.
6. Don't enter a pool with more than fifty people in it. Although the payout is better, you've limited your odds of winning way too much. I like pools with about 25-30 people in them (I will break my rule for the xtcian pool every year. I have always said that rules were meant to be broken).
7. Never spend more than thirty minutes filling out your brackets. Don't overthink it. Go with your gut.
8. No matter how fun it is to pick UNC every year, it's not reasonable to predict them to win the National Championship every year. Pick UNC when it is reasonably likely for them to win the National Championship. Branch out and pick another team every so often. Of course, if they are the #1 seed in the entire tournament, this gal will be picking them.
After Saturday night's game, I really didn't feel too much like writing about March Madness today, but I certainly didn't want to write about politics or religion. Global warming has been discussed ad nauseum recently. I could talk about music, running or the beauty of eastern North Carolina (I said eastern NC, not East Carolina), but it was basketball that got me here today.
So, a thought came to me, a smile appeared on my face, my fingers danced a little bit as I started typing, and I decided to talk about basketball. The thought? No matter how you look at this basketball season, we outperformed Dook in every way, shape and form.
Posted by Ian Williams at April 9, 2008 11:37 PMCheers to you Emma. I wish I'd followed your Rule #7 a few years back when UNC won the whole enchilada. My brackets had UNC facing Illinois in the title game (not bad bracket picking) but being a native Illinoisan, I picked The Fighting Illini, even thought I went to Iowa and thought UNC would win. That one bum pick cost me the $250 kitty but for second place, I did score $100.
Good going Emma. I could certainly use some advice in this regard, although following your #2 rule got me nowhere this year since I picked Stanford to the final four for my husband. I almost like making random picks (my usual method) just to see how well that works compared to having a strategy.
You are someone with a great mind and good luck so apt to win in things like this. If there's a choice, always bet on Emma! Good luck in Vegas this year :)
Yay Emma!
I picked Georgetown to go to the Final Four because my G'town boxers were my favorite ones back in the 80's when h.s. girls wore boxers as "ahtletic shorts" (at least in SC). Also picked them b/c of The Exorcist. But it obviously cost me big points to not have Kansas.
Nice work, Emma.
I had forgotten about being able to watch games in the 80's at school. Since I lived nearby, I often brought in the family's "little TV" for the occasion. I'm not sure if the school's TV's were spoken for by other classes, or teachers didn't want to officially request one during the tourney.
Your mention of the beauty of Downeast, however, comes awfully close to opening the door for a barbecue debate. 'Course, it would make the rest of the arguing this week look like a third-grade group presentation on George Washington. We might burn out the lines on teh interwebs.
"People who would put ketchup in the sauce they feed to innocent children are capable of most anything." - Dennis Rogers, easterner
Being a Salisbury girl who grew up on "Western style" BBQ I could willingly take on that debate, Lindsay, although I would have to say I wouldn't turn down either style!
At my schools growing up they had no problem wheeling in the TVs from the A/V room when Duke and Carolina played.
What's not to love about NC?
Neva...funny, we are actually driving to this park near Salisbury today and stopping by Wink's to get my BBQ fix!
I'll admit that I achieved my one-day record of sammitches eaten at several in Lexington, and leave it at that. (That's Western style, for the uninitiated)
The best thing about a barbecue debate is going for direct evidence. I have two pounds of 'cue from the famous Red & White Grocery in Dorches, NC in my Brooklyn freezer right now. And some Scott's sauce in the pantry. Who wants breakfast?
(Apologies for the comments hijack, Emma. I didn't do any brackets this year. I'll hang up and listen)
Well done, Emma!! I loved the chris weber "T" reference... How many of us were doing that exact motion, in semi-drunken states for oh, so many weeks afterward?
hard to beat a "lean chopped brown" platter from the honeymonk! (lexington bbq #1)
Emma, earlier this year my next door neighbor's brother came over and started talking smack about college hoops. I discovered that he went to Michigan and then I lit into him by making that classic Webber-ian pose. Shut him up.
All-time favorite BBQ (and BBQ place): Carolina BBQ in my hometown of Statesville. Western style, baby! Great chicken as well as pork.
Outstanding bracket, Emma.
Many Long Islanders still ignorantly operate under the premise that BBQ refers only to a backyard grill-out. If only I had the full-blown pit and spit (and pigs) at my own suburban property, then I wouldn't have to salivate reading this blog. Thanksalot Lindsay. Soo---ey!!!
Anyone else remember the catchy Triad-area jingle for Mr. BBQ (not the best around by far, but catchy tune)
"Eat Mr. BBQ it's good for you, eat Mr. BBQ it's fun to chew, etal..."
OOps, meant to paste a relevant barbecue link.
As a native of Salisbury,I would insist there are actually three separate styles of BBQ in NC - eastern, western and God's own choice, Lexington style. The best is found in Lexington proper, of course, but you can find decent versions in Salisbury and China Grove. You CANNOT find it in Charlotte, but fortunately for me, my Southern grandpa taught the Lexington process to my Yankee daddy, who in turn taught my Yankee husband. God willin' and the creek don't rise, my sons will master the skill as well.
Dad uses a big barrel contraption my Papaw helped him build many moons ago, but we use a Big Green Egg, which turns out phenomenal Lexington style 'cue.
As for the Heels...sigh...definitely excited about what Butch & Co have in store for us this fall.
One more thing, and this is very, very important:
Finely chopped, NEVER sliced.
Oh, I just love how this has spawned into a BBQ debate. I wont debate this with anyone unless they can tell me they have tasted the BBQ from B's BBQ on B's BBQ Road in Greenville. But it does remind me of a funny story that took place a couple of weeks ago.
A bunch of us, including a couple of regular commenters were at Neva's right before Easter. Standing in the cul-de-sac in their Chapel Hill neighborhood, Dave (Neva's hubby) comments that the only native NCers in the neighborhood are them and one other family and they own a pig cooker. That was the distinguishing fact about this family in the neighborhood. I looked at Dave and said What's the big deal about that? Everyone in Washington has a pig cooker. And it's true. Attended a party on Saturday night with a pig cooked in the pig cooker, not by a caterer, but by a neighbor.
Scruggs, don't forget St. Elmo's Fire when referring to G-Town.
Thanks for all the nice comments. I didn't mean to come off cocky a month ago.
I'm with Emma on number 7. I pick my teams like I cook. I've been known on many occasions to sit and read a cook book cover-to-cover. When the time comes to take food and apply heat to it, however, all reference materials are banished from the kitchen (along with all measuring devices). I'm the same way with making picks in the tourney. I watch a lot of basketball and read a lot about the teams throughout the season and then grab a bracket on the Monday after Selection Sunday and let the picks fly. Thirty minutes is about twenty-five too many for me. The two picks that I really thought about in this tourney -- Stanford vs. Texas and Stanford vs. Memphis -- ended up hurting my bracket.
Oh and here is a good write-up with pix of Lexington #1 done by a friend of mine:
http://runninggags.blogspot.com/2008/01/if-in-lexington-nc.html
And as for the BBQ debate, I, too, am from Statesville and Carolina BBQ is pretty darn good. But the best BBQ in the state/country/world/universe is Tar Heel Q. It's on Highway 64 between Lexington and Mocksville near the Yadkin River Bridge. Large chopped tray with slaw and hush puppies and homemade peach or cherry cobbler for dessert.
Good job, Emma.
And for all you sports fans:Tonight: NCAA Frozen Four semifinals.
Saturday night: Frozen Four championship game.Check your cable listings. These should be some really good contests! :-)
Emma, came back to check "your" blog today again to weigh in on the BBQ and "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd came on the iPod. You introduced that song to me THAT night at THAT party when your girls cooked dinner for the GAS-HOUSE boys.
I say that to say this: the best BBQ is Western (red sauce) BBQ and there are a number of spots in and around Gaston County that can hold their own with anyone. Chief among them is "RO's".
And the only acceptable BEvERageS to drinkn with your BBA are Cheerwine and Sun Drop.
OK, I was not going to wade back into this. But I am proud to say that I have eaten at each of this fine establishments. I agree that B's BBQ is fantastic. It might have taken the place of the dearly-departed Scott's in Goldsboro as my favorite. Do you like Boss Hog in Washington, Emma? I've never eaten at Skylight BBQ in Ayden, which is reputed to be the best in the entire state by even westerners and furriners.
I do love Lexington #1, though it usually takes an arm twisting for me to admit it. And Tar Heel Q is great and might have the most UNC-like decor of any cue place. Snook's, which is over that way, in Advance, is also really good.
But the "everyone has a pig cooker in Washington" thing got me thinking. (First off, you mean The Original Washington, right?) Much like Morocco or Turkey (pretty much my only forays into the third world), the best Eastern style barbecue comes from home cooks, not restaurants.
I had some pig over Easter in Bath, cooked by a cousin of a cousin who is a couple of years younger than me (and owns a Rodeo!). I could've cried. I hadn't had finer stuff since Dana and my 1999 engagement party in Bath, when the hated Ag teacher from my middle and high school, who made the finest barbecue known to man, simultaneously did the cooking honors and exorcised several childhood demons.
Oh, Bud. Poo on Carolina BBQ. The REAL stuff can be enjoyed at Little Pigs!!!
...And to represent any upstate NYers. They SWEAR by Dinosaur BBQ in Syracuse -- now in other fine cities. I try to tell them... "if you haven't had NC BBQ...."
Asheville? Is that even on the map, porcinely speaking? Maybe you mean NASHville. Saul's in Nashville, NC, has great barbeque AND serves Freedom Fries!
silly yankee, bbq is a noun!
if you don't believe me, watch the movie!
Lindsay - Does this mean what I think it does? Not only are you clearly a BBQ aficionado, but are you a Beaufort County boy?
I prefer Hog Heaven to Boss Hog in Washington and Bum's BBQ in Ayden is really good, too, but I haven't had Skylight either.
Wow, mcf -- Statesville in the house.
Maybe it's because I grew up down the street from Carolina BBQ, or maybe because they were so awesome with my wife's huge overseas family when we descended on them close to closing time last summer... but whatever, they are close enough to perfect for me.
I agree, Little Pigs is also good and you can't beat the art deco vibe. It's like a trip back in time....
Congrats, Emma! Obviously I need to follow your rules next year! Glad you stayed away from the heated topics of late. I have to put in a vote for Jim n Nicks BBQ in Bham. Someone explain the vinegary (not sure how else to describe it) sauce that I experienced in NC. What style is that? It was way different than the sauces I grew up with in SC.
Greg, are you saying that the first time you heard "Wish You Were Here" was at Ramsgate? YOur memory continues to amaze me.
Here in the Triangle, I'd vote for the Barbeque Joint on Weaver Dairy Rd. in Ch-Hill. It's Co-owned by my friend Damon Lapas, who was a chef at Crook's for a long time and does Eastern style just right. The Q Shack in Durham is good too, and has a great bluegrass band playing on Wed nights -
A Poem, for Emma
Chew tobaccy,
chew tobaccy,
chew tobaccy,
spit.If you ain't from Bath,
you ain't worth shi--.
(I must have gotten Hog Heaven on a bad, bad day, because it is one of the few non-chain places in the State I don't like.)
Cullen, you must be called out for failing to mention that the Mr Bar-b-cue song was sung in a ruinous high gutteral nosewhine imitation of Miss Piggy--!---this always struck me as unspeakably odd because the Mr. Bar-b-cue mascot/symbol was a dancing (presumably male) pig in a top hat and tails. I didn't understand the marketing concept of "riding the wave" back in 1981...
(...still thinking about that damn song...) Not to mention the bizarre, even grotesque dimension of a pig singing about eating barbecue...ecchh...
Annie, it was real Chipmunky sounding. Sorry for the nite terrors. Find a happy place.
How 'bout some hoop talk from ye in the absence of other hoops talk alas, but say, spring done sprang and sprung.
Eat up some BBQ fo' me and them of us who don't reside "I-T-Z" for savory N.C.BBQ. Yummy!
That's right, Lorelle. Ramsgate. Underneath that giant poster in your living room of THE WALL.
Asheville has this:
http://dtkptsquare.wordpress.com/2007/11/25/good-morning-america-and-12-bones/
but you'll notice some interesting feedback in the comments on this:
http://www.topix.com/forum/source/asheville-citizen-times/T6RGUFKVTNGQPFFLR
the owners have built an air of exclusivity into their business plan that makes people crazed. I'm not sure it's that good, but you have to be seen there...
But hands down, I have never found many restaurants in general better than this:
http://www.knoxviews.com/node/1256
I agree with the author's driving quote. I do not hesitate to trip in east Tn if I think it might even possibly flirt with being near this place.
Never mind all that...have the winners endorsed Obama?
Jody, I was hoping someone (preferably you) would answer my Asheville troll. But I thought the Little Pigs shout-out from yesterday was about Asheville, and it wasn't, so I guess the connection was wasn't there.
Since I am getting open-minded in my old age, I guess I would try that Tennessee BBQ place. But what's up with 12 Bones? Is it any good? Or is it "good pork dishes but not really barbecue" good, like lots of nothern so-called 'cue joints? Blueberry flavored meat makes me skeptical.
And were you the "Engineer" who posted about the sewage? Sounds like the Jody I know and love.
It seems like a remember a place in downtown Asheville years ago that had decent bbq and blue grass to boot. Was it near the fire station? Was it something Stanley's? Bill Stanley's? I was quite young when I went there. I don't think it is still there, but at least there was a time that Asheville competed in the BBQ wars.
Don't remember the sewage remarks, although I'm probably one of the few engineering types in these comments.
12 bones is pulled barbque and I think their ribs are particularly good, mostly because they are 'hard roasted' rather than soft and fatty. This place is what you get when a CIA chef decides to do regional low brow.
Emma, Bill Stanley's was an extremely popular place through the 80's. Around 200 people got food poisoning at one point and, although the community was supportive, he closed the place down. You can see what he's been doing here:
http://www.scrutinyhooligans.us/?p=5211#commentsHis concept has been resurrected in the past year with the unfortunate name...
http://www.thefiddlinpig.com/
jje said it best: "I would insist there are actually three separate styles of BBQ in NC - eastern, western and God's own choice, Lexington style."
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As a Davidson County native and current Lexingtonian, I thought I'd give you BBQ fans an insider's guide to the best Q the BBQ Capital of the World (home of the Barbecue Festival)has to offer:
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1. Lexington BBQ (referred to locally as The Honey Monk). You get what you pay for. Not the cheapest... but the best2. Speedys BBQ -- You'll never get more Q (or fries) on a plate or sandwich than you get at Speedys
3. The Barbecue Center -- Great Q, the best hush puppies & the biggest banana split you'll ever eat
4. Jimmy's BBQ -- part of the history of Lexington & BBQ .. driving b/w Charlotte/Chapel Hill.. 200 yards off I85
5. Tar Heel Q -- read other posts & you'll see why it made it on the list
6. John Wayne's BBQ -- locally, better known for their country cooking & Friday All You Can Eat Flounder, BBQ is solid as well
7. Cook's BBQ -- High Rock Lake's best kept secret
8. Smokey Joe's -- Best service in town
9. Stamey's BBQ -- Outside of town, Stamey's draws people to Tyro (including Eric Montross whose wife is a local of this area)
10. Whitley's BBQ -- Another hidden gem
In Davidson County: also try Southern BBQ, Tommy's BBQ, Troutman's and the new Barbecue House where you can actually buy wine (not Cheerwine) with your 'Cue..
Emma, I got called up to "clog" with a traveling team of square dancers one night at Bill Stanley's. I was with our mutual friend, "Hoss" (formerly of Asheville and a some time lurker on this blog). I think the dancers were being nice to me (since I sound taller on the radio) but they had no idea that I had been on my 4th grade clogging team so they were pleasantly surprised when I was able to "cut a rug" with them. Don't remember the food that much, but that was my brush with glory at Bill Stanley's. I think it was during Belle Chere!
I love that this somehow turned into a BBQ topic. It is nice to see an entry with 40+ posts and no grumpiness!
OK, time to get grumpy. Haven't ya'll been hearing this conversation for all of your lives? I mean, I think my grandmother was talking about this when I was three and Emma wasn't even born yet. Why not come up with something more pertinent to our generation, such as: what's better, tofu or spirulina shots? Or can you make tofu taste good with a decent bbq sauce? Oh, I forgot, that might not be generational but geographical...I live in Portland, OR, green pc capitol of the world. If you could even find bbq out here, you would have to make sure the sauce was organic and the pig was grain fed and had a lovely field to laze around in!
Do any of ya'll know how funny it is that Emma's such a huge sports fan? I've know her longer than any of you, and I still have a hard time believing that she participates in an NCAA pool, much less wins one!
Big sister in the house! I always thought Granny's big debate was whether the tobacco fields were better in Johnston County or Beaufort County. Before you get critical/grumpy of the BBQ subject matter, you need to read a little further and longer. The folks here usually speak of very pertinent, thought provoking, issues, usually very green too. Read on and enjoy. If you do decide to read on, let me know and I'll email who some of the commenters - makes it more fun.